Nick M
A young Salvation Army soldier, Edit, dying of consumption on New Year's Eve, calls for David Holm to visit her before she expires. Holm is a wastrel--a plague upon all who know him--but her dying wish is to see him one final time. Meanwhile, locals are conscious of a legend that says that the last person to die before the clock strikes midnight on the New Year becomes the new servant of Death, ferrying the damned souls of the departed to hell in a phantom carriage. This is Sjöström's greatest film to date. Selma Lagerlöf's story is engrossing (as are so many of her adapted works), the adaptation is excellent, the acting tremendous, and the special effects produce some hauntingly effective images. Sjöström made a bold choice casting himself in the leading role of David Holm, and while he and Astrid Holm (as Edit) are marvelous in their respective roles, my favorite actor in the bunch is undoubtedly Hilda Borgström in the role of David Holm's wife, Anna. I recognized her from her starring role in 1913's sensational Ingeborg Holm, also directed by Sjöström. She plays a similar role in each picture: a decent wife and mother who through no fault of her own becomes of victim of society's ills. She is captivating in her desolation and moments of fragile hope. The film cautions us at the end to ensure that our souls reach maturity before they are reaped. How far I am from this ideal, I don't know. I'm left thinking about what I might regret not having said or done in regards to my friends and family before I go. That I was moved to such introspection almost two hours into a hundred year old film indicates this as a work of art, as far as I'm concerned.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
12/10/24
Full Review
Richard W
I wasnt planning to watch the entire movie ,but i did it actually got me interested in the storyline and plot ,cinematography was really good so was the lighting etc really ahead of its time a true cinematic masterpiece ,made in 1921 unbelievable
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
09/18/24
Full Review
Matthew D
A spooky silent classic with cool blue nighttime and haunting ghostly effects for the carriage.
Swedish director Victor Sjöström's Swedish silent horror drama fantasy film The Phantom Carriage (1921) is an old masterpiece of eerie imagery, moving storytelling, and haunting filmmaking. Sjöström's directorial craftsmanship is impeccable. He'll use cascades of fog enshrouding or a bit of light in the dead of night to barely illuminate someone against the darkness. The Phantom Carriage looks frightful as it pulls up like a spector in the night. The see-through carriage, dead horses, and bound reaper with scythe looking translucent to the eye against the stunning blue lighting for night is amazing.
I love Sjöström's sullen characters dealing with their potential fate. The way a clock face will be the only visible thing at night or human faces cast in shadows is breathtaking. I appreciate Sjöström focusing the story on the living characters and their inner sorrows.
Sjöström directed Sweden's first great silent film classic and even starred in The Phantom Carriage himself. The Phantom Carriage famously inspired Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman to start directing and I've always found it cool that he cast Victor Sjöström as the elderly hero of one of my favorite Bergman films: Wild Strawberries. The Phantom Carriage is very touching and imaginative with careful storytelling and unforgettable imagery.
Writer Victor Sjöström adapts the original author Selma Lagerlöf's spooky tale with gleeful jokes, depressed characters, dying souls, belligerent alcoholics all as a sympathetic warning. You don't want to be the last to die at midnight on New Year's Eve, otherwise you'll be doomed to drive The Phantom Carriage as the New Year's grim reaper yourself. Having souls rise from their body to be collected by The Phantom Carriage is a jaw-dropping image. It's a sad comfort to think the next dead man is relieving the former reaper.
Editor Eugen Hellman uses sharp cuts to really jar you with scary images that linger in your mind. The slow fade in and out in black and particularly effective. The way the carriage will suddenly appear is freaky. I felt engrossed for all 107 minutes of The Phantom Carriage.
Cinematographer Julius Jaenzon's striking blue filter over the camera for nighttime and sepia tones for interiors is quite formidable filmmaking. I love all the careful wide shots that show dead bodies with their spirit being lifted up out of them. Holding the camera frames very still makes each shot look precise and gripping. There is no visual escape from the terror. Art directors Axel Esbensen and Alexander Bako use the shadowy and blue lighting to make Sweden look extremely dreary and isolated. The way The Phantom Carriage can appear over water or hills with a transparent appearance is especially haunting.
Victor Sjöström is excellent as the jolly alcoholic David Holm, who is doomed to become the next grim reaper riding The Phantom Carriage to harvest the souls of the dead. Sjöström plays up the fear and guilt of his character who has wasted his living life on drinking in squalor. He can be the pathetic drunkard and miserable wastrel with a realistic portrayal of being ashamed of himself. I certainly felt bad for Sjöström's David Holm.
Hilda Borgström is very fun as the loving wife Anna Holm, now in despair. Tore Svennberg is brilliant as the once jovial man Georges, now lost in ruination and forlorn despair as the former reaper of souls. Astrid Holm is gorgeous and sweet as the caring Sister Edit, who is only concerned for David Holm's soul rather than her own dying life. She looks strikingly comparable to Swedish pop star Tove Lo. Concordia Selander looks distraught as poor Edit's devastated mother.
Einar Axelsson looks gaunt and pathetic as David's likewise alcoholic brother who killed a man in a drunken stupor. Nils Aréhn's serious prison chaplain is intriguing, especially when he desires David Holm to change his ways and even serve his brother's sentence out of guilt. Olof Ås is creepy with his slow shambling as The First Driver before Georges dies and takes his sunken place. Tor Weijden is good as the upset Gustafsson, who seeks out David Holm in the beginning.
The new melancholic film score on the Criterion blu-ray of The Phantom Carriage is marvelous with somber piano melodies, sad horns, and plucky strings. It fits the shadowy shifting tone of Sjöström's picture The Phantom Carriage with massive intensity to ominous foreboding.
In all, The Phantom Carriage is enthralling and really cool for 1921, even before Nosferatu!
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
09/11/23
Full Review
Emmett H
Beautifully filmed, this masterpiece of silent cinema will grab you at the start and never et go. Touching, painful, and, at times, scary, this film will not be forgotten.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/11/23
Full Review
Alexander B
It is really ahead of its time but hasn't aged well. The special effects are very outdated and it's really slow. But the story line is really clever for the time it came out.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Simple: but simply scary
This movie was great and mimics the state of fear which enveloped the world during the pandemic. It's about tuberculosis but manages to dwell in the legends of history such as the Grim Reaper. It's a little too simple for my taste, but still holds a lot of weight. The police who keep barging out of doorframes are interesting because they appear out of nowhere. The acting is wildly dramatic for being a silent film. I enjoyed this movie. Its undertones are disturbing. I usually hate coloring effects in older, silent films, but this one did alright. The colors worked well to accompany the dark lighting.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
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